In 1995 Calgary golfer Robert (Bob) Wylie was inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame. He played on the PGA tour in 1957 and returned to the amateur ranks where he represented Canada through the 1960s on the international stage. During a different time, he would have competed for Canada as an Olympian and perhaps continued on the PGA tour.
Mr. Wylie’s accolades included winning seven National Sr. Men’s Championships (over 50 years old) with his last one in 1995 in the year he would turn 66. What was the secret to his swing that allowed him to compete and win at this high level for decades?
Mr. Wylie passed away last September 2021 just days before his 93rd birthday. He had a reputation that preceded him in the golf world and was a fantastic person with a great smile (AKA smirk). Canadian golfers have looked up to him for decades and so many continue to look up to his accomplishments and long-playing career to this day.
I was fortunate to get to know Mr. Wylie when I was the associate golf professional at the Calgary Golf & Country Club (CG&CC) in the ’90s. I wanted to know the answer to the “swing” and I was keen about learning all that I could from this icon. I was sure to make my way to the driving range to watch Mr. Wylie practice often. Club championships and Alberta amateurs allowed me a front row seat to see this swing held up under pressure. Mr. Wylie was a very nice man, but I was intimidated by his successes. Fortunately, he was welcoming to my curiosity. Man, was I lucky.
I was also lucky to be able to play with him. Prior to a game, he was hitting balls off the hard part of the stance mat. “Mr. Wylie, why are you hitting off the stance mat?” I questioned. “Isn’t it too forgiving?”
“Scotty I don’t mind a bit of forgiveness. I like to see good shots,” he remarked. This resonates with me whenever golfers ask me why we are not on the grass range today before their round. One of our best ever golfers started his game with added confidence, but many of us would rather challenge ourselves during a warm up and bring doubt to our swings.
Mr. Wylie did not talk to me about bits and pieces, parts and movements of the golf swing. My take-away as a young teacher was the golf swing as a whole. The full movement swinging the club with proper rhythm allowing the club to gain momentum and speed to strike the golf ball.
Mr. Wylie took lessons from Martin Allred at his indoor golf centre in Calgary when he was a young man. CG&CC head professional Tom Greiner told me he heard that Bob swung a club for four months before Mr. Allred allowed him to hit a ball. This was similar to the legend I heard that he had swung a weight on the end of a string. So, I made one for myself. I secured a pink StarFlight with hockey tape on the end of a shoelace and would swing it back and forth to understand a swing without hurting myself.
In the same time period, I spend time learning from legendary PGA teacher Manuel de la Torre; learning of his close connection to Ernest Jones who wrote: “Swing the clubhead” (originally published 1952). I have revisited this this book many times over my golf-teaching career. Whenever I do, I see Bob Wylie’s incredible swing.
We can learn the positions of the golf swing, but undoubtedly, we all need to put this together in one complete motion: The Swing. Bob Wylie did this and became one the best Canadian golfers of our time.
See Bob Wylie’s swing at 89 years old: https://twitter.com/golfcanada/status/1070792684103720962
